Support Organizations

The Conference was established in 1963 by six charter members – Idaho, Idaho State, Gonzaga, Montana, Montana State and Weber State. The name originated in a novel written by A.B. Guthrie of Great Falls, MT, entitled “The Big Sky”. The name “Big Sky” was adopted by the six presidents of the charter members as the name of the new conference on February 25, 1963.
 
The Big Sky is one of three conferences in the western United States playing Division I football and is a national leader in the Football Championship Subdivision. Big Sky teams have won the Division I Football National Championship six times, including Eastern Washington most recently in 2010. In 2016, Northern Arizona won the NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country National Championship, making them the first conference team to win a national championship in a sport other than football. The Lumberjacks followed with national championships in 2017 and 2018.